University Communications
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: Nov. 8, 1999
Contact:Nancy Seideman, Director, 404-727-0640, or nseidem@emory.edu

Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka and Desmond Tutu bring international perspectives to Emory

Emory is graced with two Nobel laureates on campus, retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Nigerian playwright/activist Wole Soyinka, who bring their unique international perspectives on human rights to both the university and the greater Atlanta community.

Tutu, serving as the William R. Cannon Visiting Distinguished Professor of Theology, is in his second full year in residence at Emory's Candler School of Theology. He teaches two courses at the United Methodist seminary, "God and Us: Reflections on Ministry" and "Transfiguration, Forgiveness and Reconciliation." Students in his classes say that for them, Tutu has evolved from a revered public figure to a real-life role model for their work in ministry.

In addition to his classroom teaching, Tutu is an active speaker on and off campus, maintains a busy lecture schedule and has published a new book, "No Future Without Forgiveness," based on his experiences as head of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Soyinka, the first African to receive the Nobel Prize for literature, is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts at Emory, giving lectures in theater, African American studies and creative writing. He also continues to travel abroad fighting for democracy in his native Nigeria, from which he is in exile. Soyinka provides Emory faculty and students with a first-person account of world affairs often ignored by the American media, and the responsibilities of the United States' role as the sole remaining superpower.

Soyinka's writings have always been closely tied to his political activism: His most acclaimed works are the memoirs Ake and The Man Died­­based on 27 months in solitary confinement following his 1967 arrest by the Nigerian government­­and the play Death and the King's Horseman. Two of his current projects include Radio Kudirat, an opposition radio station broadcast across Nigeria, and the Area Boy Project, a Jamaican arts program designed to eliminate that country's segregating "garrison" system. Soyinka works with Theater Emory to stage readings and productions of his works, and hosts a fellow Nobel laureate at Emory's Nobel Conversations lecture series each year.

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